Watch the 1960s unfold day by day. A news feed for what happened 46 years ago today in the Cold War, politics, science, the arts, religion, leisure and society.

Friday, September 15, 2006

September 15, 1960: Congo Premier Arrested, East Germany Said to Prepare for War, Castro Loses Hotel Reservation, Rev. Peale Breaks with Protestant Group

In the Congo, ousted Premier Patrice Lumumba was put under house arrest by Col. Joseph Mobutu after escaping death at the hands of an angry mob of soldiers shouting "He killed our wives and children." Mobutu, who took over the government yesterday, was seen as strengthening his control. East Germany is preparing for war against the Bonn government, West German officials said. They based their claim that the East was preparing "an aggressive war" on documents from a defector. Fidel Castro is coming to New York without hotel reservations. A number of city hotels have refused to put him up, and one -- the Elysee -- cancelled his reservation when told the size of his entourage. The "bearded leader of the Cuban Revolution," as the New York Times would refer to him in its report for tomorrow's paper, is to arrive September 18 at New York International Airport, Idlewild, Queens. There are reportedly plots to assassinate the Cuban leader during his visit. Meanwhile, in Cuba an American secretary working in the U.S. embassy was arrested by Cuban authorities. Marjorie Lennox was the third member of the embassy staff to face arrest. The charges against Lennox were not made public. Rev. Norman Vincent Peale said today that he had severed his ties with the Protestant group that has become the center of controversy for its contention that Senator John F. Kennedy would fall under the influence of the Catholic Church as president.